“Pinata: Survival Island”
#15 of the 31 days of horror challenge. (These reviews will be more raw due to the nature of the challenge.)
Follow this link for more information.
A group of college students go to an island for an initiation of a scavenger hunt for underpants and pinatas full of booze. Unbeknownst to the group, an ancient pinata has washed ashore. This pinata holds the collective evil that was cast out of an ancient tribe.
This movie had so much potential! The actors (Nicholas Brendon, Garrett Wang, Jamie Pressly, Eugene Byrd, to name a few) should have been able to hold their own. The story, okay it wasn’t great, but I’ve supported worse stories when executed well. This, however, was not. The writers/directors were so hyper-focused on the details that they missed the big picture. They spoon fed every detail to the viewer, then the parts that maybe should have had explanation (like why the pinata creature kept changing shape) was left unexplained.
For a movie that was intended to be a serious horror it was difficult to take seriously. Largely due to the CGI. Without giving spoilers (which I won’t do) all I can say is that the CGI was bad. The pinata creature started out as a clay statue, then a man in a suit (yes, in at least one spot you can see zipper), then way over the top CGI. There were some spots that were almost scary, but then cartoonish CGI was added and the moment was ruined.
I did watch the writers/directors commentary of this movie (yes, I watched it twice). It didn’t help. Honestly, I don’t recommend this unless you’re drinking heavily. I gave this 1 shot of your choice.
